Nets falter in fourth quarter, fall to Jazz

Brooklyn Nets forward Trevor Booker grimaces after he injures his ankle in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz at Barclays Center on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017.
Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

For the most part, the bickering that divided the Nets in their previous game stopped, but their frustration continued to mount Monday night at Barclays Center. The Nets wasted a strong defensive effort, allowing Utah to put together a dominant fourth quarter in its 101-89 victory.

The Nets led by nine midway through the third quarter, but with the score tied entering the fourth quarter, Utah opened the period with a 19-8 run, including eight points by Rodney Hood, for an 89-78 lead. The Jazz scored on nine of its first 11 possessions of the fourth quarter.

A dunk by Brook Lopez cut the Nets’ deficit to 91-86, but they couldn’t get over the hump. The Jazz outscored them 31-19 in the final period while shooting 63.6 from the field, and the Nets went 1-for-15 from three-point range in the second half.

Nets coach Kenny Atkinson traced his team’s problems to a 17-5 Utah run near the end of the third quarter that briefly turned his team’s nine-point lead into a 70-67 deficit.

“It started at the end of the third,” Atkinson said. “They got momentum and carried it into the fourth quarter. I was proud of our team’s defensive effort. We really got after it. We were physical like we asked the players to be. I thought they really responded.